So many local government chairpersons are corrupt, local government workers are corrupt, state governors and state government officials operate the state like personal fiefdoms. As for federal ministers, it is even more terrible. Indeed in some parts of the country, local governments are now empty shells. NGOs are the ones doing what they ought to be doing. At least in many states in the North, local governments functioned more effectively wen I was a boy than now.
The presidency does not seem to get things right and there are too many reports on corruption surrounding the institution. INEC is corrupt as per Chidi Opara Reports.
To worsen things even further, many members of the religious clergy (the influential ones especially) both Muslims and Christians are corrupt as there is huge allegations of money being distributed. Moreover the religious organizations (e.g., CAN) have not set up a committee to clear themselves of any allegation of being corrupted by the presidency for the sake of elections. Any decent organization that is accused of such a serious corrupt practice would seriously proceed to use its own resources to figure out the truth and punish those involved. In doing that, they will elevate the trust of ordinary people in the religious institution. When our governments are failing our citizens at different levels, the clergy should be the people who can stand for the masses (i.e., a strong tower) even if everyone fails. So where do we go from here? Some of the masses in Africa are just like orphans. The police is accused of taking bribe. The military as an establishment has been accused of misappropriating funds for fighting Boko Haram.
A friend of mine told me that one poor person came and asked him for a job. He gave him fifteen measures of maize seeds to go and sow in his farm. The poor man went and "sowed" the seeds, but several days after it rained, nothing germinated. To cut the long story short, the poor man went and consumed the seeds in his family and did not sow anything; yet he went to the farm and used his legs on the ridges to create the impression that he sowed the seeds. My friend who is a Muslim and an Alhaji, told me that corruption in Nigeria is not just among the big people but even the ordinary citizens. There is a lot that needs to be done to clean up the system. It is like corruption has become a state of mind among many people. It is now the new normal.
My point: this is a moral, ethical and institutional crisis if properly understood. If all is true, it is not a question of personalities per se. or point at this person and that alone. Let us not get so immersed in specifics and forget about the big picture of the Nigeria crisis.
Whatever happens, we know that there is no miraculous solution to Nigeria's moral, ethical and institutional problems. Corruption seems to be an "equal opportunity" issue among those who are well-positioned to get access to public funds.
There are still people who care about Nigeria and who try to be honest, but often they are frustrated and they cope by living some kind of mystical life: they are in this world but not of this world.
We need to focus on things that will get the institutions of the country functioning well instead of some specific thing here or there that sometimes does not get us to the root of the problem. Nigeria stands a higher chance of getting ahead by focusing on the moral, ethical and institutional crisis than talking pass each other.
Samuel
On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 4:09 AM, chidi opara reports <chidioparareports@rocketmail.com> wrote:
--On Tuesday, 17th February 2015, our leadership (Intersociety) released the third volume of our explosive publication (How INEC Tainted & Sectionalized Nigeria's National Register of Voters). Its volumes one and two had earlier been released on 15th and 16th February 2015. As the referenced third volume was enjoying its world-wide circulation and readership on electronic media news, the headship of Independent National Electoral Commission under Prof Attahiru M. Jega, released its PVC distribution update across the country same day with State-by-State breakdown saying that as at 17th Feb 2015, a total of 52, 233, 396 PVCs have been distributed across the country. The INEC in its referenced update praised itself as having achieved 75.88 per cent in the PVC distribution across the update. On Wednesday, 18th February 2015, Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru M. Jega appeared before the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to update the upper Chambers on how far the Commission has gone in its preparations for the referenced rescheduled polls. The proceedings were dominated with the usual fallacious "we are fully ready for 2015 elections" pronouncements on the part of INEC team...............From chidi opara reportschidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects
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Samuel Zalanga
Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24
Saint Paul, MN 55112.
Office Phone: 651-638-6023
Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24
Saint Paul, MN 55112.
Office Phone: 651-638-6023
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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